Monday, May 9, 2011

More slush


     [Latest: HERE.]
     The Voice of OC updates the “kickback scheme” story:

More Schools Involved in Kickback Scheme, Couple Alleges

     An Irvine couple now says coaches from at least 63 high schools and colleges throughout Southern California participated in an elaborate kickback scheme orchestrated over 16 years by the owner of a sports apparel and equipment company.
     Teresa and Geoff Sando compiled documents from Laguna Hills-based Lapes Athletic Team Sales – dating from 1992 to 2008 – that they say implicate coaches from the Southern California counties of Orange, Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Ventura, and San Bernardino, and one school in Placer County in Northern California.
     The couple alleges that their most recent tally shows coaches and employees from dozens of high schools, eight community colleges and San Diego State University had access to at least $800,000 held in slush accounts.
     They say much of that money was taxpayer dollars paid to the company by school districts.
     "Coaches were purchasing uniforms, apparel and sports equipment for their local sports programs, mainly football, and it appears that prices were inflated in order to fund the money for slush accounts," Geoff Sando said.
. . .
     Here are the ten schools with the largest slush accounts, according to the Sandos:
Capistrano Valley High School (Mission Viejo, Orange County) -- $162,321.54
Murietta Valley High School (Murietta, Riverside County) -- $122,102.65
Tesoro High School (Las Flores, Orange County) -- $87,304.60
San Clemente High School (San Clemente, Orange County) -- $83,915.12
San Diego State University (San Diego County) -- $54,486.59
Truckee High School (Truckee, Placer County) -- $41,751.57
Saddleback College (Mission Viejo, Orange County) -- $25,255.68
Segerstrom High School (Santa Ana, Orange County) -- $21,559.25
Scripps Ranch High School (San Diego, San Diego County) -- $19,917.73
El Toro High School (Lake Forest, Orange County) -- $19,275.90
     School districts have largely declined to be interviewed for this story. Capistrano Valley Unified School District, Saddleback Valley Unified School District and Saddleback College are conducting their own investigations….


• University of California weighs varying tuitions at its 10 campuses (LA Times)

• Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here (TOP-ed)
     Developmental education in California’s community colleges is a study in unintended consequences. The very courses designed to assist students who need a little help climbing over the ledge from high school to college level work will more than likely send them tumbling off the college path. “Of those who enroll in developmental education, particularly those who have to enroll at the lowest level, they actually have almost no chance of earning a credential,” says Mary Visher, a senior associate with MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and social policy and research organization that’s about to publish an overview of the current research on remedial education….

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...